NBA Scouting Reports, Northwest Division (Part Four)September 26, 2008Overview: A quality forward with the bulk to play the post and enough skill to step out and spend some time on the perimeter. Has great strength and a terrific wingspan for either forward spot. Undersized as a power forward, but has average size for a small forward. Not a fluid athlete, but has some explosive qualities to his game. Stuck in between positions, but gets by with his incredible smarts. Can be effective on the block, high post, or out on the perimeter. Has proven to be a very capable offensive player, as well as an excellent passer. Brings some things to the table defensively as well, and is a terrific rebounder. Was a tremendous college player, dominating three out of the four years he spent at Providence. Quite possibly the best player in the school’s history. Needed one season to adjust to the college game. Could have declared after a very impressive sophomore season, but opted to stay in school. Ultimately got selected late in the second round. Caught on with the Celtics and made a pretty significant contribution as a rookie considering where he was picked. Possesses a tremendous work ethic and very good intangibles. Doesn’t have a great deal of upside, but is constantly improving and seems capable of producing consistently on the NBA level, particularly on a winning team.

Offense: A versatile offensive player that can score from all over the place. Functions mostly as a spot up guy, but can score on the fast break, on the pick and roll, in the post, or by working off the ball. Has a nice shooting stroke. Doesn’t have great fluidity as a catch and shoot player, but is more than capable. Won’t make many shots with a hand in his face. Can hit the three, but is still improving his consistency in that area and expanding his range. Great midrange catch and shoot game. Can put the ball on the floor to score. Lacks the lateral quickness to effortlessly get separation for his midrange shot, but he gets by. His physical strength lets him get to the rim more easily. Prefers to go left. Solid ball handler. Not flashy, but always strong with the ball. Not a flashy finisher, but more than gets the job done. Capable of finishing with either hand. Great touch from in close. Will do whatever it takes to shield the ball and get an open look. Can spin off his defender off the dribble, use some up and unders, or go to his floater to get his shot off at the rim. Not going to finish above the rim in traffic, but will always initiate contact. Goes to the line at a good rate and shoots a great percentage. Runs the floor hard in transition, sets solid screens, and can score in the mold of a power forward as well. Decent back to the basket game. Pulls down offensive rebounds and works hard off the ball. Very smart on the offensive end. Won’t force things. Solid passer. Won’t turn the ball over at a high rate. A relatively efficient scorer that continues to improve his overall offensive versatility.

Defense: A quality defensive player due to his work ethic and strength. Does a solid job defending the ball, but will get beaten off the dribble by quicker players. Won’t give up when he’s beat, allowing him to force some tough short-range jumpers by staying with his man despite not being in ideal position. Gets a hand up whenever he can. Closes out shooters extremely hard, trying to contest their shots. Will get beaten off the dribble when he’s recovering from time to time. Will hedge screens when defending the roll man and fight through them when defending the ball handler. Shows a good commitment level on the defensive end, but isn’t a playmaker. Will play a position-based brand of defense and always get a hand up, but isn’t athletic enough to be effective in some matchups. [Read Full Article]West Coast Workout Swing: Day 5 (Marcus Williams, Jared Dudley, more)May 25, 2007A head coach out on the floor, it sometimes seems like Gomes should be paid for the work he’s doing out in Vegas rather than the other way around. He’s constantly helping the future rookies out, dishing out advice, giving them veteran pointers, wowing them with his skill level in the post and on the perimeter, and just being the class act that he’s always been. He’s out here in Vegas working on his game already even though training camp is almost six months away, and we constantly saw him putting in extra time outside of his scheduled workouts—running on the treadmill or putting up hundreds of extra shots from behind the arc.

Gomes is a great guy to watch workout in this setting, because he’s a classic example of the dangers of writing off unconventional college players, reminding us that it’s not only the “prototypes” that end up having successful careers. Listed at 6-7, but weighing in around 253 pounds, he’s obviously stuck in between the 3 and the 4 spots, without a tremendous amount of athleticism to make up for it. His lateral quickness is just average and his leaping ability is nothing to write home about. If he were in the draft this year, he’d be written off as a tweener before he even got to Portsmouth. But as he told us with a wink and also showed on numerous occasions during this trip and throughout his NBA career so far: “just put me out on the court…I’ll get it done.”

The reason for that is his outstanding feel for the game combined with a terrific skill level. Gomes is a master of using crafty footwork and pump-fakes to get his man off balance and either work his way to the mid-range area for a pull-up jumper or spin his way into the paint. His shot is smooth and he possesses the utmost confidence in his abilities, showing great hands, long arms and phenomenal touch around the rim to get the job done with pure smarts and fundamentals rather than any real flash or incredible explosiveness.

After everyone was done for the day with their workouts, we watched Gomes do a drill where he would shoot first 10 college 3-pointers and then 10 NBA 3-pointers from seven different spots from beyond the arc, starting with one baseline and working all the way around to the other. We charted him at 70% from the college 3-point line and 64% from the NBA. [Read Full Article]Ryan Gomes NBA Draft Scouting ReportSeptember 1, 2004Strengths
As a low-post scorer, Gomes already has NBA-caliber footwork on the low block, enabling him to make up for a lack of height among the trees. And when he's clearly outsized, he possesses the ability to back out and hit the tough bank shot or the midrange jumper. He's much like Wayne Simien of Kansas in that regard. Gomes' low-post positioning is second to none among forwards in the college game. Aggressive on the boards, it is his footwork and positioning that gives him the edge boxing out bigger foes. This ability to find where the ball is going gives him better angles down low. This, in turn, allows him to get offensive rebounds, which he did at better than a three-per-game clip this season. Gomes is an even better defensive rebounder, and is extremely consistent for a guy listed at 6'7, averaging over six a game.

Gomes has great touch on both the midrange jumper and the bank off the glass. His range, while not to NBA-three range yet, is improving. He hit 33% of his threes this season (29 total) after hitting none his sophomore year.

Finally, NBA scouts no doubt notice that Gomes lives at the free throw line. This year, he hit 87% of his free throws, knocking down a whopping 134, more than double the number made by any of his Providence teammates. For good measure, Gomes also led his team in scoring, rebounding and steals.

While some draft prospects might have better natural athleticism, few will outwork Gomes on the low block. He's a hard worker who makes defenses stay on task the whole game.

Weaknesses
Gomes has worked hard to fix any flaws in his game, most notably improving his range, adding a three point shot to keep defenses from lagging off him. Since he is not the kind of athlete that jumps out of the gym, Gomes has to use a lot of angles and moves in the paint to free himself.

On defense, Gomes is a competent matchup, but is not a shot-blocking presence at all, tallying only four all year long, despite normally being within ten feet of the basket. Instead, Gomes plays tough defense and positions himself for the defensive carom rather than cheat a little and try to block the shot.

Given that he was the focus of every team's defense, Gomes has only been required to be a functional passer, and that shows in his turnovers. This season, he averaged less than one assist per turnover. It should be noted, however, that no one else on the Providence team averaged over 11 points a game. Would you pass the ball?

Competition
Simply put, in the college game, Gomes has played, and played well, against the best competition possible. He dropped 26 points and 12 boards on eventual national champion Connecticut, prompting perhaps the year's best coach going ballistic tirade, courtesy of UCONN coach Jim Calhoun who has been repeatedly criticized for not recruiting Gomes out of Wilby High in Waterbury. Toss in Pittsburgh, Syracuse and the rest of the Big East, add a dash of non-conference foes Alabama (17 & 7) and Illinois (24 & 12), eventual Sweet 16 participants both, and you have among the toughest competition night in and night out in the college game. That Gomes finished a First Team AP All-American tells you how he stacked up against this opposing talent.

Even though Gomes' production tailed last three weeks of the season and in the NCAA tournament, he more than showed he was capable of dominating his opponents. As a junior, Gomes hasn't appeared yet at any draft camps. He could try the Chicago camp in June, but as a top NCAA player is more likely to test his worth on name recognition alone.

Outlook
The senior-to-be Gomes has another year of college eligibility if he so chooses. To date he has remained coy as to his plans, saying only that he'd wait and see. Like many other college underclassmen, he will likely not hire and agent, so as to keep his options open. This year's NBA draft is relatively slim on small forwards, with only high-schoolers Josh Smith and JR Smith and Duke freshman Luol Deng generally listed as domestic prospects with higher upside.

But players like Gomes are tough to judge. Gomes does not possess eye-catching athleticism or the big rubber stamp of potential. But his game is far more developed than that of the young guns. He could probably help a playoff team from the bench far more than he could provide a Carmelo-like spark to an also-ran.

For that reason, Gomes is a likely late first round pick at this point. Good performances at private workouts plus some buzz could of course change that, but with so many unknown draft entries (both high school and foreign prospects), Gomes would be wise to wait and see what the waters look like before he tests them.

Comments
Gomes is a great college player. As a senior, he could scarcely gain more accolades than he did as a junior, short of winning the Wooden and Naismith awards. However, his Providence Friars team was upset by Pacific in the first round of the NCAA tournament, leaving a sour taste in Gomes' mouth. He'll have to decide if the lure of the NBA is greater than that of one more year as the BMOC in Providence.

As a pro prospect, Gomes has an excellent future. But it's hard to know if another year of college would improve his chances (a la Josh Childress) or do nothing for them (a la Brian Cook, Josh Howard). The best guess here is that with an influx of hyper-athletic high school kids and obscure 7-foot beanpoles from former soviet states, Gomes will find a logjam in this year's draft. Next year's high school class, however, is nearly devoid of the sort of top-flight talent the 2004 class has in droves. Another year of making Jim Calhoun look like a recruiting amateur would probably guarantee Gomes a first-round pick, even late in the round, while a jump this year might mean slipping into the second.

Facts
Gomes finished his junior season as a First Team AP All-American, a First Team Wooden All-American, a First Team Sporting News All-American and a Big East First Teamer. Ryan's nickname is G.